Start-ups explore biz prospects in Africa

The lack of clear regulations and registered portals got Kobel and Raju into exploring the idea of equity funding through other markets.

Indore: To explore business opportunities in Africa, start-ups from Indore participated in Indo-Africa ICT Expo 2015 organized by Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC) with NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) at Nairobi, Kenya on September 28.

The summit was held to establish relationship and commitment between India and East African countries with help of information technology and telecom.

Participating in the event, city-based Mapp technologies, which is into development of mobile applications, founder Anurag Gupta, said, "We have signed three memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with firms which are Kenya-based. A large section of Africa believes in making mobile payment without use of cash. So we are trying to cash in on this opportunity for our expansion. City based start-ups got an opportunity to expand in Africa."

The event was supported by department of telecom and department of commerce, government of India. NASSCOM had partnered with ICT Authority (information and communication technology), Kenya, to host the event at Nairobi.

"Trade relations between India and Africa will grow exponentially as start-ups start investing. The African market has given opportunity to Indore-based firms to go world-wide and vice-versa," said Pushpendra Agrawal, founder, MSG-91, which is into bulk messaging.

Business potential arising in segments such as products and services related to mobility, security solutions, e-commerce, billing and enterprise solutions has given an opportunity to start-ups for establishing themselves.

"Internationally, India is a country which has a good hold in information technology and for Africa, a lot needs to be done in e-governance, education, security, healthcare and across private sectors are driving demand for ICT in Africa and many other key verticals, including tourism, telecom where Indian firms can play a significant role," said Narendra Sen, founder, Rackbank Datacenter Private Limited.

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After PSU banks, the government is likely to infuse capital in two chronically ill telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL, and the Union Cabinet is likely to take a decision on 4G spectrum allocation to them by the third week of the current month after DoT places the note before it for consideration.

At a high-level meeting at the PMO late Tuesday, it was also decided that the two telcos will frame a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to reduce their employee strength, which will be followed by a reduction in the retirement age to 58.